Harriet Tubman to Replace Jackson on $20 Bill: Report

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will announce that 19th century African-American civil rights activist Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, a Treasury official said Wednesday.

The announcement will come after Secretary Lew suggested over the weekend that potential modifications were on the way.

A woman holds a sign supporting Harriet Tubman for the $20 bill during a meeting at the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York. (AP/Carolyn Thompson)

CNN reported Monday that Lew had decided to keep Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, and instead replace the seventh president’s portrait on the $20 bill with a woman who represents the struggle for racial equality.

Treasury officials declined to comment on the CNN report at the time.

Tubman was an abolitionist, humanitarian and Union spy during the American Civil War. Following Lew's announcement, she will become the first woman on U.S. paper currency in 100 years.

Other women will also be honored on the $10 bill, the currency next up to for redesign, with a mural-style depiction of the suffrage movement that will replace the current drawing of the Treasury building.

Lew is also expected to confirm Wednesday that Hamilton is here to stay, a decision many have attributed to the grand success of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway hit, “Hamilton,” which recently won a Pulitzer prize.

Lew announced last summer that the government was going to incorporate a woman on the $10 bill, which would mark the first appearance of a female portrait on U.S. paper currency in 100 years.

Treasury received more than 1.5 million responses to Lew's request for suggestions on the currency redesign. That prompted him to delay an announcement, which he had originally said would be made by the end of 2015.

In a poll conducted last year by the online group, Women on 20s, Tubman, one of the leaders of the Underground Railroad, was the top choice.

Lew's initial announcement last year set off a firestorm of protests from supporters of Hamilton. They argued that the founding father had molded the nation's financial architecture and should not be removed from his rightful place on the currency.

Hamilton fans got a boost from the interest generated by the hit Broadway musical. Earlier this year, Lew was personally lobbied by Miranda, the show's author and star, during a meeting at Treasury. After their discussion, Miranda tweeted that Lew had assured him "you're going to be very happy" with the decision.